Oh, documentation: The first thing that gets cut when timelines shorten, the last things developers want to write, and the first thing we need when picking up a new project or joining a new team.
There are always extremes. The minimalist says, “The code IS the documentation.” On the other extreme is the developer who documents every minor thing and takes twice as long as it took to code the thing; all for documentation that will need to change within a week of writing it.
Tamberra has developed a happy medium: Template Maps.
We use template maps to quickly draw out which tags and object files we use to create a new feature. We create them for those custom CCE modules, photo galleries, or any feature that is not immediately obvious how it was constructed.
So what is a template map? See the image to the left for an example of a simple template map for a Google News Sitemap implementation.
As atlassian fans, we usually upload these documents to our Confluence wiki and make them available to everyone on the dev team. Now any developer can generally look for a template map and immediately see on one diagram where all the files are located and any js/css assets needed. We also include any localdata.ini settings and publicus.ini settings necessary to make the feature work.
Template maps are always part of the package when we do custom development for a client. They allow developers to quickly understand how a module/feature was built in the SAXOTECH / NEWSCYCLE templates.
How do you document your work on your development teams?
